Tag: Week 8

I had learnt the basic function of the Unity, but I still feel hard to know how to combine them together step by step to make a game prototype. The programing is still hard for me, I had no idea which code should be used in where and when. It made the creation of game prototype really hard for me.

My communication with my teammates was not as much as I should have over the second assignment. I was focused on my other units’ assessments too much due to the urgency of them and ignored many opportunities to communicate with my teammates and better discuss the details of our concept of the game. Compared to last assessment, this type of game was more complex for my team. I should had discuss more about how to work with Unity to them and required their help for I had no idea how to start. My low confident was always get in the way to prevent me ask for help. Next assessment, I should change my attitude toward my teammates and my tutor, and trying to offering my advices whenever possible, whilst asking their advices when I need it. Therefore, our team can learn more effectively to work with each other and complete our work better.

The concept of this game was based on my idea of game in the week 5 workshop. I found the ‘finding missing’ concept interesting to develop. I had many ideas of game narrative about this game, and considered to create a short story of every missing person. For example, the first missing person is under the depression of lost his girlfriend, so he went to the place where they used to be.

However, the lack of time caused my work to be rough and incomplete, and only using the simple concept and design in order to save time. The difficulty of learning the function of Unity caused my low motivation toward the prototype development.

This game is a simple first person puzzle game with not many narrative included. It inspired by the notices of missing person. Through the difficulty of finding missing person while playing this game, I hope people may realize the difficulty of finding missing person in real life and express my respect for the people who focus on this area.

Record the amount of time that player willing to spend in the game, and reason of playing.

Playtest 1:

(1) How do you feel about the game play?

Boring.

(2) Did you enjoy to play this game? Why?

No very mush. The game narrative is incomplete.

(3) How much time did you spend in the game?

5 mins.

(4) What is the strongest emotion that you feel while playing the game?

Focused.

Playtest 2:

(1) How do you feel about the game play?

Too simple.

(2) Did you enjoy to play this game? Why?

A little. No enough interaction with the game world.

(3) How much time did you spend in the game?

5 mins to 8 mins.

(4) What is the strongest emotion that you feel while playing the game?

Boring.

Playtest 3:

(1) How do you feel about the game play?

Simple.

(2) Did you enjoy to play this game? Why?

Yes. The countdown timer design made this game a little excited and challenging.

(3) How much time did you spend in the game?

5 mins to 10 mins.

(4) What is the strongest emotion that you feel while playing the game?

Focused.

Playtest 4:

(1) How do you feel about the game play?

Boringly easy.

(2) Did you enjoy to play this game? Why?

No. Too easy to play.

(3) How much time did you spend in the game?

3 mins to 5 mins.

(4) What is the strongest emotion that you feel while playing the game?

Boring.

Playtest 5:

(1) How do you feel about the game play?

Simple.

(2) Did you enjoy to play this game? Why?

Yes. Challenging a little.

(3) How much time did you spend in the game?

More than 8 mins.

(4) What is the strongest emotion that you feel while playing the game?

Focused.

Observation:

All play testers considered this game is too easy to play and lack of interaction with the game objects.

The design of countdown timer provided challenge for them to complete the game, but the lack of narrative made this game feel boring by the players. The clues are too easy to find cause the game is too easy to complete.

Over the course of development cycle two, I feel as if I have gained more insight and experience into what goes on behind the makings of a game. One of the biggest things that I have learnt and realized from this experience, is that a lot of games draw upon real world events. Though it is quite an easy thing to identify, that even non-developers can see, I never truly realized it until now. With our search and rescue game, it was inspired by rescue stories and search parties finding missing people. In the brainstorming stage, reading all those new stories, I could easily correlate them to certain games that I had played. Whilst working on Search and Rescue, I realized how heavily a game depends on animation and motion to create an immersive atmosphere for the player. I’m sad to say that my game lacked animations, things like running and moving animations were not included due to lack of time. I feel as if it breaks the immersion of my game and snaps the person back to reality due to the unrealistic movements of the character they control. I can now truly understand why animators are in such high demand when it comes to game companies and organisations. Seeing as though my programming skills seem to be coming along fine when it comes to game design, I should seek out more help when it comes to animation so that my game can feel polished. When it came down to implementing original work, the most satisfying would have to be creating the terrain that the player navigates. The ability to create a large expanse of space, filled with hills, trees and water made me feel like I was actually shaping a game in the image that I wanted. Even though it is quite simple, I never knew how satisfying it would feel just to be able to add a little water to a level. It gave me a whole bunch of free roam of creativity that I never experienced before in game making. I feel as if there are some ethical issues when it comes to creating an first person experience inspired by events. There comes the issue of glorifying horrific events that could be distasteful and disrespectful to those who lost their lives or were doing their job. In terms of the game that I made, I hope that it does justice to what actual search and rescue officers go through. I tried to keep as serious as necessary in order to not make fun or disrespect the service men and women for find missing people. Although, knowing the internet, there is always someone who is unhappy or insulted by someone else’s work, so it’s hard to please everyone out there.

Yes to find the missing person however there were no in game prompts to do so

The title gave me a bit of an idea, but without instructions it was a bit difficult to understand exactly what to do

Find the missing person before its too late

YES THAT WAS THE EASY PART

Find the person

2) Did you find it difficult to achieve the goal of the game.

Yes there was no direction for me to follow no hints just walking around looking

Yes because I didn’t have a very good idea of what I was doing at the start of the game

Yes, the voices couldn’t be heard until you were super close. Maybe some hints to begin with, or tracks that disappear

EXTREMLY DIFFICULT DIDNT KNOW WHERE TO LOOK MAP SEEMED VERY LARGE

No, you just have to listen very intently

3) Did you feel there enough options to achieve the goal.

Yes just hard to do so

Well I didn’t achieve the goal so I don’t know

Yes as long as you run around a lot

NO NEED HELP LIKE A HOMING BEACON

Yes

4) Did you find it enjoyable to play.

It was hard

Yes it was fun to play, I liked the design

It was challenging but enjoyable

YES BUT VERY HARD MUSIC COULD BE LOUDER

Yes it was fun

5) Is there anything you feel like that could be added or tweaked.

More hints or direction

Instructions, ground a bit too dark

A hint to begin with

Better ending when person is found

Drone to follow you when you switch to it.

Observations:

Play testers were not told anything going into the play testing, they had to figure out the goal and mechanics for the game themselves. Majority of testers grasped the general controls quite quickly as it is the typical set up for most games. On each person’s first try, no one had a real clue as to what they should be doing or where they should be going. They all walked around aimlessly and failed to achieve the goal of the game. On their second attempt, the play testers were told what they should be doing. Three out of five people managed to achieve the goal of the game on their second attempt.

Key Finding and Conclusion

As it would appear from the play test report, majority of the play testers found the game too hard upon the first attempt of the game. They felt that it lacked guidance and instruction at the beginning, making them unsure of what they were to achieve during the game. Alongside this, finding the person was considered a bit too hard with audio levels too low and too hard to see. These critiques will be taken to heart and will be used to try to improve upon the game in order to create a better experience for the player. There will be an instruction menu inside the main menu describing the aim of the game and the tools that the player can use. The voice for the lost person will be louder and can be heard from further away, making it easier to tell if you are in the vicinity of him. The lost person will have a slightly brighter color in order to stand out from the extremely dark background. Alongside this, the lost man model will be slightly increased so the player doesn’t have to look as far down as were. Other small tweaks will be made outside of the ones from the play test report in order to make the game easier to play upon the first time.